Slight Jump In Voter Turnout Predicted For Illinois` Primary

March 10, 1988|By Daniel Egler, Chicago Tribune.

SPRINGFIELD — Despite two home state presidential candidates and hotly contested presidential primary races for Republicans and Democrats, fewer than half of the state`s 5.9 million registered voters will cast their ballots in Tuesday`s election, the State Board of Elections projected Wednesday.

The board estimated a turnout of 45 to 48 percent of the registered voters, a slight increase from the 41 percent who voted in the March, 1984, election and from an average of 42 percent in the last four presidential primaries.

Cook County Clerk Stanley Kusper estimated that 28 to 32 percent of the registered voters in suburban Cook County will vote in the primary, about the same as the 31 percent who voted in the primary election four years ago.

Voter turnout in primary elections is usually lower than in general elections.

``This year there is no incumbent president seeking re-election;

therefore you have hotly contested races for both major party nominations,``

Also adding to the increased turnout, she said, should be the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Paul Simon and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

A 45 percent turnout next week would be the highest since 1980, when 44 percent of the state`s voters went to the polls in the presidential primaries. In 1976, 43 percent of the those registered to vote did so, compared with 40 percent in 1972.

Primary elections traditionally bring out a lower voter turnout than general statewide elections.